Castle or Cage

July, 2002

Castle Or Cage

By: Yasmin Mogahed

I saw you dancing in the snow.
I saw you walking late at night,
along paths of steep walkways
and thorny branches.
you spent your whole life searching,
but what you found
was it castle or cage?
where is your world?
Of it, are you prisoner or prince?
who are your parents?
did not the moon divorce the sun?

i saw it all in a dream
i thought.
the voices seem clearer now.
every poem is a path
every hardship a journey.
it ends with the crown
made of twisted pain,
withered petals.
are you writing a song with your life?
who do you think will listen?
who do you think is watching?

i think you got lost
in your own mind,
amid your own thoughts.
you lost your way
somewhere between
pleasure and pain.
it got fogged
somewhere between
here and there,
between snow and sun.
i wish the cold had waited.

i'm sorry.

there's a world
below the world,
beyond and deeper yet.
you and i can see
but not they.
there's a pain
beyond tears,
a speech
beyond thought.
there's a land of hope
untouched by words.
there's a heart
understood by none.

i left you alone
to search.
I'm sorry.
What you found
was it castle or cage?